Traffic congestion is such a part of...

Traffic congestion is such a part of life in Southern California that the Auto Club’s freeway map officially designates such involuntary rest stops as the Orange Crush and the El Toro Y.

But L.A.--of all places--is short-changed in the listing of these lamentable landmarks.

“We wanted people listening to traffic reports to be able to identify the specific features that are mentioned,” said an Auto Club map maker.

He admitted, however, that few recent L.A. freeway features have been added in recent years.

The current map lacks such standbys of KNX reporter Bill Keene and other authorities as:

* Poop-Out Hill on the 405 (Sepulveda Pass).

* The Commerce Creep on the 5, where gawkers view the old Uniroyal tire factory (now the Citadel shopping center).

* Billboard Alley on the 101 in Agoura Hills.

* The Puente Pause on the 10, near the Puente Avenue crossing in Baldwin Park.

* And, of course, Malfunction Junction, the maze featuring the 60, 101, 5 and 10.

The Auto Club map indicates that the only Malfunction Junction is the confluence of the 405 and 22 in Los Alamitos. This hurts almost as much as Orange County landing the Rams.

Hank Kovell of Beverly Hills notes that the program for “Triptych,” a three-play production in West Hollywood, identifies one of the stars as “an accomplished athlete and a semi-successful sky diver.” No, we didn’t see an understudy listed.

Carol Salisbury of Venice called to point out that Sydney Omarr’s astrological forecast for Wednesday seemed to suggest that any Leo wishing to report a stolen car to a certain state agency should be careful.

Curiosities cited in Gloria Lothrop’s new “Guide to Historical Outings in Southern California”:

1--Parked on the grounds of the Ralph W. Miller Golf Library/Museum in the City of Industry (open only by reservation) is Winston Churchill’s funeral car.

2--Altadena is the home of the Banana Museum, which exhibits 15,000 artifacts, some of them slippery.

3--The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. on Central Avenue in downtown L.A. is designed in the shape of an ocean liner, with portholes, a red stripe marking the waterline and decks with railings. It’s not far from the L.A. River.

4--Kellogg Hall, the winter home of corn flake king W. W. Kellogg, is on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.

5--The Fine Arts Building on 7th Street in downtown L.A. is “an exact replica of Or’ San Michele (church) in Lucca, Italy.” L.A.’s version has an additional feature: A McDonald’s restaurant inside.

miscelLAny:

Motorists on Berkeley Avenue, at the point where the street intersects busy Glendale Boulevard in Silver Lake, have one of the longest waits at a traffic signal in the city. During morning rush hour, the light is green for only about 20 seconds of the 180-second cycle.